50 sentences on Ino and Lee
by Runespoor
Summary: 50 unrelated themes, one sentence each, devoted to the beautiful crack pairing of Ino and Lee. InoLee, others.


**50 sentences on Ino and Lee**

**Pairing:** InoLee  
**Rating:** PG-13/T  
**Notes:** contains a healthy dose of side-pairings, past-pairings, and one-sided-pairings. And run-on sentences.

* * *

#01 Motion

A wedding with flowers pink like their namesake and a best man who's driving the happily homicidal couple up the walls, and two guests wondering; they've stayed still for so long, can they really move on?

#02 Cool

Years down the road, Lee will one day stop as he overhears two young genin complain wistfully, "Man, I wish I could be more like Lee-sensei, you know who's his girlfriend?"

#03 Young

"POWER OF YOUTH!" the kids shout in perfect unison; _'I'm getting too old for this,'_ Kakashi thinks, a feeling of mixed dread and exhaustion settling deep in the pit of his stomach as he watches the Rock girl and the Uchiha boy clap hands in front of the log their teammate is tied to.

#04 Last

It should have been the first thing they did, but so much had happened (like Naruto and Sakura leaving to confront Uchiha Itachi and bring back Uchiha Sasuke, like Ino's sensei being dead and like Lee trying to sympathise because this is who he was, like training for the jounin selection they both realised they wanted to pass) that they only turned up on Sakura's doorstep long after they'd admitted how they felt; Sakura opened the door, noises from her teammates' discussion filtering from the living room, and neither Lee nor Ino dared come in, so they explained the situation anxiously, guiltily, Lee fidgeting and Ino snide to cover up for it, and both obviously terrified of what she would say or think, because they'd never wanted to betray her, and when they were done Sakura just stared at them – "And you thought you needed my blessing?"

#05 Wrong

Team Seven training on the village training grounds means Ino goes to wait for her best friend and watch Sasuke-kun out of the corner of her eyes, as he looks more and more approvingly at Sakura and alternates between bristling, smirking, and sometimes even answering at Naruto's every other word (this is the way things are, and even if Ino doesn't like where they're going – nowhere, at best – she won't let herself be beaten so easily); but recently, she's taken to jump and feel the palm of her hands dampening when the _other_ person who comes to see Sakura appears, and her heart thumps harder than Sasuke ever made it and _that_ is not acceptable.

#06 Gentle

And they say that Hyuugas wield the 'gentle fist'; clearly they've never met Rock Lee out of battle.

#07 One

When he opens the door, he finds Sakura-san's best friend Ino standing there, putting on a brave front, but three months have passed since Sakura-san and Naruto-kun's disappearing act and he knows at first glance that there are still no news; he smiles all the same, curious as to the reason of her presence, when she starts speaking, "I was wondering if you'd like to have lunch with me; you don't have to, it's just – I know you miss her as much as I do, and I— we could talk."

#08 Thousand

Since they've started going out, Lee has replaced his 'one-thousand push-ups' challenges with 'one-thousand enthusiastic kisses (of youth)'; bizarrely, his physical shape hasn't suffered any.

#09 King

"Now you'll know who is the king," Shikamaru smiles when Ino tells him she's pregnant, and Ino snaps at him to please keep the shougi metaphors out of her flat, because the last thing she needs is for Lee to pick up playing the damn game.

#10 Learn

"I AM THE BEAUTIFUL BLOND FLOWER OF KONOHA!" a little girl proclaims, and she's indeed blond, but she could hardly be called beautiful due to her unfortunate eyebrows; the teacher braces himself for the laughter and the ridicule and the intervention and the lecture that he will have to provide, but strangely, everyone in the class stays completely passive, except for the little Uchiha boy (the teacher may be young, but even without the symbol, there'd be no mistaking him; strawberry hair, blue eyes, it can only be an Uchiha) who looks ready to bounce up and down; the teacher decides that after class, he'll have to ask his more experienced colleagues what _that_ is all about.

#11 Blur

He's so fast that when he runs he's only a blur, but that means he'll always be there on time when she needs him.

#12 Wait

So they're ready; so the girl likes a boy who looks even less at her than at his teammates, so the boy likes a girl who loves the first boy and is, incidentally, one of his teammates and the first girl's best friend; so the boy never accepts defeat and the girl is pig-headed, so they're both a little blind and a little stupid when it comes to some things, so they don't see that love isn't a match, so they wait; so one day the boy and the girl they like will or will not hook up; so until then the boy who likes the girl goes to the flowershop owned by the family of the girl who likes the boy, and so they start understanding each other just a little; and maybe some day they'll stop waiting.

#13 Change

Once upon a time, Ino would have screamed _the jumpsuit_; since then, she tells herself that no matter how eye-gouging inducing it is, she's never seen a more revealing outfit, and that includes Sasuke's shirts and Kurenai's dress, and Ino very much enjoys the glances other women can't help sending his way once – then twice – then again until they realise how obvious they're being and ostensibly look away to cover for their indiscretion.

#14 Command

Every word from Sakura was a command to him, but with Ino, he notices that _commands_ are commands.

#15 Hold

One thing Lee regrets about Ino being in ANBU is that she never needed to specialise her jutsus for straight fighting instead of possession and spying; one thing he regrets about being unable to perform long range techniques, genjutsu or ninjutsu, is that he can't hold her body in battle, and be the first to know when her mind has snapped back into it.

#16 Need

After four months of dating and the furthest that they ever went was her physically making him understand that it was alright for him to rub her back when they kissed, Ino starts pondering the best way to make him realise she'd very much like for them to pick up the rhythm.

#17 Vision

Occasionally Ino wishes Konoha was even more of a doujutsu village than it is traditionally understood to be, because maybe everyone would see through walls and it would be impossible to have a private life, but at least it would mean no more of this awkward _kid walking in on couple making out_ thing which has been plaguing Lee and her since they started officially dating (two blocks away, Shikamaru nods at a job well done while Chouji hands the kid the promised dango).

#18 Attention

_'I must have strength,'_ Inoichi told himself, his eyes closed as he tried to repress the shouted oaths of eternal love Maito Gai's student was hurling in the general direction of his only daughter – whose only outrage pertained to the noise level, which was a bit of case of the pot calling the kettle black, but the major sticking point was that she didn't seem any disturbed by the contents of the vows; _'well, I guess it could be worse,'_ he tried to console himself; _'at least I'll never have to worry about keeping an eye on him.'_

#19 Soul

"This way," the enemy ninja mutters briskly, with an impatient flick of the wrist; one of Lee's teammates starts drawing a weapon, but Lee stops her with a hand on the arm and a blinding smile at the gruff-looking man – "Thank you, Ino-san," Lee says politely.

#20 Picture

"Don't sparkle-smile at the camera, you'll ruin the photo," Ino snarks, but Lee, with the expertise that comes from long practice, successfully deflects it just to the left of the camera, catching only a pigeon that looks momentarily disoriented.

#21 Fool

Lee is used to people telling him to give up, telling him to let go (it's apparently common knowledge that Lee has terrible taste in women, not because Sakura is a bad woman, but because she's so obviously out of his league) and Lee doesn't listen and goes ahead anyway; why should it be any different this time?

#22 Mad

"I always knew Team Ten wasn't as normal as its members pretended to be," is Neji's only comment when Ino shows up after training one day, possessively drapes herself around Lee as if he was a previously undiscovered part of Sasuke, and proceeds to kiss the living daylights out of him.

#23 Child

"You _want_ to meet my _parents_?"

#24 Now

_She_ gets out of class at half past seven, and he arrives (a bicycle means never worrying about traffic) with ten minutes to spare, looking straight at the cafeteria's porch roof where he knows her best friends is waiting, as usual, with a carton cup of some hot drink, the place _she_ always heads for when she goes out of the building, her whole expression brightening when she spots her friend, brightening like Lee's day when he sees her, the colour of her hair a beacon of pink hope; but now he still has five minutes to wait before she comes out; under the porch roof, her blond best friend waves and greets him with her usual cheerful "Stalker!" – but then the routine gets broken, the blond friend walks up to him and says, "Punctual as always, but anyway, I only came to tell you not to wait, Sakura's sick today; I'd have called but I don't even know your name."

#25 Shadow

Shikamaru looks at him with a circumspect expression; Lee braces himself, but all Shikamaru does is shrug, "Man, even I can't take what I'm saying seriously, but I guess there's no avoiding it, so just remember, if you hurt her, _Kagemane_."

#26 Goodbye

The two of them meet as the sun is setting on the empty training grounds, when no-one is likely to see them and the hour isn't suspicious yet; Ino's eyes are red and Lee doesn't know for her, but he's fighting the urge to run to the village and tell his teammates _everything_, but – he can't, Neji's position is complicated enough as it is, Tenten is in the hospital and Gai-sensei is a jounin (Lee can't ask for that sort of sacrifice); Ino sniffles, then takes a deep steadying breath; "Okay – let's go _now_ – we'll be back anyway, once we've found her and her _stupid_ teammates, we find her, we rescue her, we get back – let's go."

#27 Hide

It's not that she wouldn't have wished to, in the beginning, because it felt somewhat embarrassing at first, with all the bragging she's always done about style, but Lee doesn't have it in him to be anyone's dirty little secret.

#28 Fortune

Lee believes in trying his hardest and self-imposed challenges; once, he's walking past the Yamanaka flowershop and sees, through the glass, a blond girl standing on the counter with a bunch of flowers in her hand, raised high above her head, her face a study in concentration; in a moment she has opened her hand and let the flowers fall, and jumped down in a flip to try and catch them before they touch the ground – she straightens, and when she sees three roses on the floor, looks disappointed – "Yeah, of course I'll be on Chouji and Shikamaru's team," he can read the muttered words on her lips.

#29 Safe

She was attracted to Sasuke because he was perfect and thus unattainable; she fell in love with Sakura because she was in love with Sasuke and thus unattainable; it figures she'd _get a crush on Rock Lee_.

#30 Ghost

People tell them it's not healthy, but the only way Sakura's ghost stands between them is like a sandwich, with Ino on one side and Lee on the other side and the kisses meant for a pink-haired girl who never looked at them the way they loved her.

#31 Book

"Oh, it's not for me," Ino assures her best friend, with a lopsided smile, as Sakura apprehensively observes the brand new Icha Icha issue the blond is wrapping in brightly-coloured paper; two months later, when she hears Kakashi-sensei commenting in a genuinely puzzled tone that he can't even say hello to the Rock Lee kid without the boy turning beet-red and running off, Sakura starts suspecting the truth.

#32 Eye

Ino doesn't miss the contemplative, approving look in the Hokage's eyes when they walk together hand in hand (it's the sort of thing that they do), but she doesn't know what it means and she shrugs it off anyway – she's not looking for validation.

#33 Never

"My name is Rock Lee," the boy with the shiny hair, green jumpsuit, and _eyebrows_ tells her, planting himself in front of her while his female teammate shakes vigorously her head; "Your name is Ino, isn't it?"

#34 Sing

Ino decides to keep quiet the discovery ANBU's research department dropped on her desk that singing a jutsu's name alters and often increases its effects, because she's the one living with Rock Lee, and she's already been subject to his idea of singing, thanks.

#35 Sudden

"I'm _sorry_ for the kunai, Ino," Tenten rolls her eyes for the umpteenth time, "but I just did not expect you – _both_ of you – to spring it on us like that, okay?"

#36 Stop

Eight gates, four of which Ino has made very clear he isn't to open, ever.

#37 Time

A few days out of every month, regular like clockwork, Lee is a hero to Konoha; men are in awe before him, women sigh after him, everyone wonders _how he does it_ and even his girlfriend is inclined to find him tolerable – a few days out of every month, Lee acts exactly like every other day, following scrupulously Gai-sensei's precepts of Being a Gentleman.

#38 Wash

After some missions, Ino drops her clothes in a heap, takes a shower that is slightly longer than usual, but she only feels truly clean when Lee is knocking on her door, shouting that he's learnt she was back and talking about training and lunch together.

#39 Torn

On the one hand his jumpsuit – his haircut – his _eyebrows_ are the ghastliest things Ino has ever been confronted with; on the other, with the enthusiasm he puts into his shouting about beauty, she can't deny that it could be a good investment.

#40 History

A Hidden Village's history is written on its cenotaph, but is measured in the beautiful future walking down the streets; Kakashi listens to his student and thinks that her parents are definitely not just trying to convince themselves.

#41 Power

Two drops of liquor – two, no more no less – in Lee's drink of choice, and it's hours of fun just for the two of them.

#42 Bother

Lee hears Shikamaru complain that girls are bothersome, and very occasionally he agrees, when he's discouraged and almost want to resent Sakura-san for the love she feels for Sasuke (Lee isn't above that, sometimes when he's tired and alone his fists clench in helpless anger and not determination), but he never understands why Shikamaru's female teammate is included in his statement whenever, after complaining for hours on end about 'Forehead-girl', she'll abruptly stand up and say she's going to help Sakura with her grocery shopping.

#43 God

Ino looks attentively at the wide-eyed, earnest-looking young man in the most garishly green suit who is, if she's any judge, attempting to recruit her to attend religious service at an appropriately ungodly hour in the morning (he has a pleasant enthusiastic voice, she notes); now, Ino is a card-carrying atheist, but she's always prided herself on being tolerant (mostly. Except for a couple of subjects, or so. She can't possibly condone it if her best friend's 'he's just a friend really' believes eye-searing orange to be a good fashion statement, and _this_ man is a fashion cry for help) and she has an inkling that he's a blusher, so she takes advantage of the boy's expectant shining-faced silence, and uses her breeziest tone of voice to say, "If it's a date."

#44 Wall

"I'm, er, very sorry for the inconvenience," Lee says awkwardly, blushing for all his worth – but is it his fault if Ino likes the walls so much?

#45 Naked

A high-pitched squeak erupts from Lee's mouth mere moments before he whirls wildly around and shouts that he's sorry Ino-san really really sorry, and he stays put in his place, muscles tense under his green jumpsuit as if waiting for retribution; Ino, still frozen in her reaching movement for the towel, can only stare at Lee's back, which is oozing embarrassment.

#46 Drive

It's a damn good plan, if Ino can say so for herself, a damn good one; sure, it involves her pretending to date Lee, but there's no way Sasuke and Sakura won't be the tiniest bit startled, and Sakura receives so little attention, now her other teammate has moved on to buxomer, demurer, less pink perspectives who are perfectly willing to pull impatiently at clothes as soon as there's nobody in imminent sight (and that includes the middle of empty training grounds, which is how Ino, with her lack of doujutsu bloodlines, got to learn more about Naruto's sex life than she ever cared to know and was stunned into admiring Hinata's technique for a moment), she's bound to panic and rush into Lee's strong loyal devoted arms, leaving Sasuke all to Ino; there's no way this can backfire.

#47 Harm

When Neji and Tenten corner her and proceed to tell her in excruciating lack of details what will happen to her should she ever hurt their teammate, Ino finds herself suddenly regretting every time she's laughed her ass off as she spied on her team/sensei/father/adoptive uncles/best friend doing the same thing to her boyfriend of the month.

#48 Precious

Some things were worth dying for, his village, people he loves, proving his dream, but before Ino's griping, "so much for the inhuman perils of ANBU, I'm barely into my second month, not even _near_ showing yet, and they're putting me on desk duty – _me_, their best infiltrator!" he didn't suspect that some were worth living for.

#49 Hunger

"I wasn't talking about that sort of hunger," Ino remarks slyly.

#50 Believe

Lee has never believed in destiny, but Ino told him about soulmates, a bit wistful and derisive at her childhood dreams – they'd been speaking about Naruto and Sasuke, and Sakura and Hatake Kakashi (and Ino had sounded strangled on that one even more than on the other, _Hatake Kakashi_? Copycat Kakashi, _Kakashi-sensei_?) – and since then, sometimes, when Ino stands, beautiful and loud and selfless and full of so much love, he wonders…


End file.
